Maroons fall to Godwin Heights in regional

Monday

Mar 10, 2014 at 10:40 PMMar 10, 2014 at 10:40 PM

By Lee LambertsSentinel contributor

WYOMING ó A quick Holland Christian start gave way to an equally quick Godwin Heights finish as the Maroons were eliminated from the Class B state tournament in a regional opener Monday night.Holland Christian jumped out to an 18-9 lead in the first quarter, but Godwin Heights caught up by halftime, then pulled away in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter for a 57-47 win.Four 3-pointers by Leon Redd in the third quarter and a 6-0 run at the outset of the fourth quarter established a nine-point lead and signaled the beginning of the end for Holland Christian."Every coach that Iíve talked to, even dating back a couple of years, said that thereís always a six- to 10-possession stretch (that Godwin has) and we had two of them tonight," Holland Christian coach Jason Mejeur said. "Our goal was to minimize it to one, but we couldnít handle their pressure and it was mistake, mistake, mistake, mistake all in a row."While Holland Christianís season ends at 18-6, Godwin Heights (24-0), the No. 1 team in the state in Class B, will play for a regional championship on Wednesday against Spring Lake.The Lakers beat Comstock Park 62-60 in overtime in Mondayís first game.Mejeur, in his first year with Holland Christian, did not fault the teamís effort."Iím proud of the boys, really proud of this senior-led team," Mejeur said. "It was a lot of fun getting to know them and the sacrifices they had to make and the hard work they put in."They achieved a (conference) championship. We played the No. 1 team in the state really tough and Iím proud of that."Though Godwin Heights never gave up the lead after Reddís four 3-pointers, the Maroons did get to within 39-38 near the end of the third quarter with Sam VanderSluis getting four of his 11 points, a couple of free throws from senior Max Wierda and a spinning jumper by senior Nathan Walters.Godwinís Markese Mayfield (24 points) scored to close out the third quarter at 41-38, then Redd (21 points) scored on a driving layup and Mayfield added two more baskets for the final decisive run."When we played Grand Rapids Christian earlier in the season, we talked about the fact that we are a three-headed monster," Godwin coach Chad Conklin said, also mentioning Michael Williamsí nine points. "Tonight Leon stepped up in a big way. We needed someone to step up and hit some big shots and, man, did he hit some big shots."Kyle Steigenga, one of the seven seniors on the team, led the Maroons in scoring with 16 points and out of the lockerroom after the game."We executed our game plan pretty well, but they hit some shots, some big shots," Steigenga said. "We fought all the way through. We didnít give up, but it didnít come out the way we wanted it to.